It was really hard to narrow down our favorite ways to use hot honey. It's one of those condiments that makes everything taste better!
Enjoy Hot Honey with Breakfast Dishes
Hot honey is sweet enough to make breakfast feel indulgent, and it is spicy enough to keep things interesting from the first bite to the last. Add it to your morning bowl of oatmeal or granola, drizzle it over waffles or pancakes instead of syrup, or pour it over biscuits—something Community Cook Pattie Prescott says her family loves. If your mornings lean more savory, Lisa Allen suggests adding hot honey to sausage biscuits, and Theresa Ravencraft enjoys it on bagels with cream cheese.
For an unexpected upgrade, try adding hot honey to a frying pan before making feta fried eggs or chili crisp eggs. The honey caramelizes and adds a golden, sticky finish that’ll really wake up your morning. Double down on sweet heat by serving the eggs on toast slathered with whipped hot honey butter.
Top Fried Foods with Hot Honey
A drizzle of hot honey adds the right amount of sweetness to lighten up heavy foods, and it clings to crispy coatings without making them soggy. It’s a natural pairing with chicken—let’s be honest, chicken goes with just about anything. Several Community Cooks mentioned drizzling hot honey over fried chicken or hot honey chicken tenders, and Cindy Reams says it’s also tasty on chicken and waffles.
Hot honey doesn’t need to be limited to chicken, either. We also love serving it as a dipping sauce for popcorn shrimp or hot honey mozzarella sticks, and pairing it with unexpected combos. Theresa Ravencraft drizzles it onto fish tacos, which works especially well if the toppings include tangy slaw or pickled jalapenos. For something truly indulgent, we love Lygdda Marin’s suggestion to use it on loaded fries. I don’t know about you, but the idea of hot honey mingling with cheesy bacon fries sounds pretty good! I bet it would even be good on kimchi fries.
Sweeten Desserts with Hot Honey
Honey is obviously sweet, but the spicy finish adds intrigue to classic desserts. Brushing it onto fruit gives a warm lift to grilled honey-glazed fruit, and adding it to fresh-from-the-oven muffins creates a sticky, slightly spicy glaze. Marina Castle Kelley even uses it on glazed doughnuts for a little extra zing.
If you want just a hint of heat, add a tiny drizzle to brownies or a cheesecake. For a bolder twist, go all-in and pile it onto ice cream sundaes. Vanilla ice cream plus hot honey and toasted pecans is a great place to get started, but I also love hot honey with more adventurous combos like chocolate ice cream and pistachios, butter pecan and brownie bites, or lemon sorbet topped with fresh strawberries.
Mix Hot Honey into Dressings, Sauces and Dips
Sauces are always my first target when I need to use up a bottle of hot honey. Stir a spoonful into lemon vinaigrette for a salad dressing with a sweet kick, then drizzle it over fresh green salads, pasta salads or grain bowls. For something a little bolder, mix hot honey into a sauce for honey barbecue wings or whisk it with mustard for a dipping sauce for pretzel bites or chicken nuggets. Don’t be shy when adding it to creamy condiments like hot honey ranch. Anything that contains mayonnaise, buttermilk or sour cream will mellow the chile-infused honey.
You can be equally bold when adding it to flavorful dips like hummus, cream cheese fruit dip or guacamole. You’ll want to add enough to get a noticeable kick, but not so much that the sweetness takes over. Adding a pinch of cayenne can be helpful here to help highlight the chiles already infused into the honey.
Drizzle Hot Honey on Pizza
Several of our Community Cooks mentioned adding hot honey to pizza. For many of us, it’s the gateway to sweet-and-spicy experimentation—or at least it was for me! I’ll never forget my first savory-sweet pie with crispy cup-and-char pepperoni, creamy ricotta cheese and a post-bake drizzle of surprisingly spicy honey.
This trick works on takeout or delivery pizza, but it’s just as fun with frozen or homemade pizza. Taste of Home editor Hayley Schueneman suggests drizzling the honey on the pie right after taking it out of the oven (to prevent burning) and putting a little extra on the crust so it caramelizes beautifully. If you’re going the homemade route, have some fun with toppings. Think grilled fig and honey pizza, bacon jam and arugula, chorizo and goat cheese, or the ever-controversial ham and pineapple pizza.
Stir Hot Honey into Cocktails and Coffee Drinks
If you’re on the fence about spicy cocktails, I have four words for you: hot honey peach Bellini. This cocktail embodies everything I love about mixology! Combining heat with familiar flavors really wakes up the palate with a spicy tingle that lingers long after the last sip. Hot honey tastes incredible in any fruity cocktail, so try creating spicy riffs of favorites like mango margaritas or frozen strawberry daiquiris.
For those of you who aren’t on the fence and really love all things spicy, combine equal parts hot honey and water to create a simple syrup for cocktails like a bee’s knees or hot honey old-fashioneds. That same simple syrup works beautifully in coffee drinks to add heat to homemade lattes or chai. I usually reach for chai when it’s cold outside, but a spicy iced chai is a great way to sweat (aka cool down) on a hot day.
Add Hot Honey to Vegetables
Hot honey is a sneakily irresistible addition to roasted vegetables. The heat balances the natural sweetness of root vegetables like carrots, sweet potatoes and beets, and adding honey before roasting adds a caramelized depth. Even simple steamed veggies get a lift with a tiny drizzle, turning something that might taste a little bland into a special treat.
Hot honey Brussels sprouts is one of my go-to dishes. Instead of roasting the veggies with honey, I usually add the sweet heat to a flavorful gremolata made with chopped parsley, garlic, grated lemon zest and fresh lemon juice. It preserves the honey’s freshness and really makes the spice shine through. This gremolata also tastes fantastic over grilled asparagus, roasted cauliflower or butternut squash.
Use Hot Honey in Marinades and Glazes
Honey is a great addition to marinades because it contains natural enzymes that help tenderize meat. It also helps balance acidity and contributes to a caramelized crust during cooking. When you swap in hot honey, you double down on flavor by adding that chile-infused goodness. It works for anything you’d marinate, from steak and pork to chicken, seafood and vegetables.
Hot honey also makes an exceptional glaze when brushed on the meat toward the end of cooking to create a sticky-spicy-sweet finish. Community Cook Teena Petrus Leventry brushes it over grilled salmon, and Brooke Burris Wofford uses it to make hot honey-glazed pork chops. When we make hot honey salmon, we combine the honey with lemon zest and juice to add a little zing, but you can also add fresh herbs to the mix.
Pair Hot Honey with Cheese and Charcuterie
Hot honey and cheese were basically made for each other. Honestly, if you don’t know what to do with the rest of your bottle, just drizzle it over a wedge of sharp cheddar or oven-baked Brie (or Brie chips, which I just learned are a thing!). The sweetness balances the cheese’s richness, and the heat keeps each bite interesting. It’s a really easy way to elevate a simple cheese platter.
Spicy honey also really shines on a charcuterie board. Here, it’s all about celebrating textures and flavors: salty cured meats, creamy cheese, crispy crackers and juicy fruit. The hot honey is the element that ties them all together, quietly canceling your “just one more bite” plans.
Spread Hot Honey on Toast and Sandwiches
Want to upgrade your PB&J sandwich? Community Cook Heather Karow suggests making a peanut butter and strawberry jelly sandwich with hot honey. Looking to spice up your morning toast? Darla Jellison Andrews says hot honey tastes amazing on avocado toast. Need something more exciting for dinner? Shelly Lynn Bevington loves it on crispy chicken sandwiches (like Nashville hot honey chicken sliders).
One little drizzle represents a small change that makes familiar favorites feel brand new. Our editors also love tucking it into grilled cheese, spooning it over ricotta or burrata toast, mixing it into chicken salad or drizzling it onto BLT sandwiches. Next on our list: taking Lisa Allen’s suggestion to add it to bacon, then piling that glazed bacon onto sandwiches.
